“Our Need For Christian Community” 8.13.17 – Pastor Larry Kassebaum

SUMMER IS PREPARATION TIME

LETTER FROM THE PASTOR – AUGUST 2017

A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” – Isaiah 40:3

We usually hear the words of the Prophet Isaiah (above) during the Advent/Christmas season, but in the reality of church life, most of a congregation’s preparation takes place in the summer. Such is the case at Victory—especially this summer. I am going to devote my article this month to informing you of some of the planning and preparation that is taking place to get us ready, not only for the busier seasons of fall, winter and spring, but for the long term as well. So here are some of the key areas we are addressing and a brief summary of the plans that have been made so far:

THE CALL PROCESS: Pastor Steve Lien has accepted our call to serve as our Pastor of Growth Ministries and will begin his work with us on September 1st. We have already started preparing his office space and he was in town this past week (July 19-24) to do some preliminary planning so he can “hit the ground running.” His ordination service will be held on Sunday afternoon October 15th with Pastor Mark Vander Tuig (LCMC Service Coordinator) preaching. We are also in some final conversations with a pastoral candidate to serve as our pastor for our ministry at our Crismon campus. If all continues to move smoothly, we could be looking at a special congregational meeting in August to vote on issuing a Letter of Call for that candidate.

THE 500TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE REFORMATION: The last Sunday in October will mark the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s historic actions that set in motion the transformation of not only the Christian Church but also western democracy as well. Our celebration at Victory will include many activities and events to help us remember and celebrate this historic man and these events. Planning for this important occasion was one of the reasons we asked Pastor Lien to join us this past week. While he is not here yet, he will be this fall and we wanted his input as we planned our fall schedule.

THE SANCTUARY EVALUATION AND PLANNED RENOVATION: Earlier this spring, as we celebrated our congregation’s 40th anniversary we made a commitment to look at ways to address maintenance issues, enhancements and improvements to our Sanctuary. I just want to keep you in the loop that this is a long and complicated process. We have started the process by engaging an architectural consultant. We have passed along to the consultant a list of some of the needs we are acutely aware of (our sound system, lighting, heating/cooling, functionality, etc). We are now in the process of getting evaluations, proposals, cost estimates and building code information to help us determine what we can do, how to do it and in what order we should proceed. Once we have gathered some of that data we plan to start informing the congregation through the process of information-sharing opportunities.

So it may look like things have slowed down over the summer, but that would be more than a little deceptive. We are having a great summer, but we are planning and preparing for an incredible fall and winter!

Grace & Peace,Pastor Larry Kassebaum

Sunday Movie Matinee

DID YOU KNOW?If you have missed any of the previous movies shown, you may check them out from the front office to view. Some of titles include: The Christmas Candle, God’s Not Dead, Brother White, Soul Surfer, Seasons of Gray, Do You Believe?, Finding Normal, War Room, Woodlawn, Where Hope Grows, Mom’s Night Out, Faith of Our Fathers, The Encounter, Little Boy, Luther, Miracles from Heaven, Marriage Retreat, I’m Not Ashamed, Risen, 23 Blast and Courageous.